Journey to the West: Man in heaven, working nine to five

#2066 - Mysterious reinforcements

The Heavenly Court, the Western Paradise, and the Demon Clan are the three major forces within the Three Realms. Among these three, the Heavenly Court and the Western Paradise are roughly equal in strength, while the Demon Clan is somewhat weaker.

This time, to rescue Guanyin and the others, the Western Paradise mobilized almost all of its forces except for the Buddha Tathagata, which should have been enough to overwhelm the Demon Clan.

However, with the arrival of the Demon Clan's reinforcements, the Ancient Buddha Dipamkara saw that the Western Paradise's forces were already losing ground and were being repeatedly defeated.

"Something seems amiss," Ancient Buddha Dipamkara thought, feeling puzzled as he watched the newly arrived Demon Clan reinforcements.

Among these new Demon Clan reinforcements, many individuals possessed formidable strength, reaching the level of first-rate deities in the Heavenly Court.

Ancient Buddha Dipamkara knew the elite combat forces of the Demon Clan, including Maitreya, but he had never seen this new group of people.

Of course, it wasn't accurate to say he had never seen them; rather, he couldn't recognize them at all, as they were all clad in the black robes of the Demon Clan, concealing their features.

"Dipamkara, what do you think now?" Maitreya said mockingly to Dipamkara with a hearty laugh.

"Despicable! Even though you have superior numbers, once our Buddha arrives, you'll all be finished!" Although the Western Paradise's forces were being routed, Dipamkara remained unconvinced.

After all, this wasn't the full strength of the Western Paradise; the Buddha Tathagata, the Western Paradise's top combatant, hadn't arrived.

The Buddha Tathagata's strength was at the pinnacle of the Three Realms. If he were to act, no matter how powerful the Demon Clan was, they would be defeated.

However, this matter had to be conducted in secret. The Heavenly Court, after all, was the administrative headquarters of the Three Realms, essentially the official institution.

The Demon Clan, in terms of reputation, was equivalent to bandits in the Three Realms. For the officials to join forces with bandits would greatly damage the Heavenly Court's reputation.

"Western Paradise monks, form a formation for me!" As the battle continued, the Western Paradise's casualties increased, making it increasingly difficult to resist.

With the Buddha Tathagata still nowhere to be seen, Dipamkara was naturally anxious and had no choice but to order the Western Paradise's forces to form a defensive formation to hold out.

"Why hasn't the Buddha arrived yet?" The Western Paradise's people were all very puzzled.

In fact, it wasn't that the Buddha Tathagata didn't want to come, but that he was being delayed by Chu Hao.

Tathagata went to the Underworld God Hall to question Chu Hao, but Chu Hao refuted him into speechlessness and intended to leave.

However, Chu Hao didn't want to let him go and insisted on dragging the Buddha Tathagata before the Jade Emperor for judgment, seeking a fair verdict.

Tathagata had no choice but to be forcibly dragged to the Hall of Universal Brightness by Chu Hao.

"Underworld God, Buddha, why have you both come?" The Jade Emperor had been secretly communicating with Chu Hao and naturally knew what had happened, but he still feigned ignorance and asked.

"Jade Emperor, this is what happened," Chu Hao explained to the Jade Emperor how he released Guanyin and the others, how they were intercepted by the Demon Clan, and how Tathagata accused him of colluding with the Demon Clan.

"Chu Hao, Guanyin and the others are guilty of heinous crimes and should be imprisoned for trial. Why did you release them without informing Us?" The Jade Emperor immediately questioned Chu Hao after hearing this.

This seemed like he was questioning Chu Hao, but in reality, it was a show for the Buddha Tathagata, emphasizing the crimes of Guanyin and the others.

"Jade Emperor, don't blame him. It was because the Buddha pleaded bitterly and promised to redeem them with money, and I was moved by his sincerity," Chu Hao explained.

"We can give the Buddha face, but the Heavenly Court's losses can't be settled with just an IOU. Of course, We know that the Buddha would never default on his debt," The Jade Emperor nodded, stealing a glance at the Buddha Tathagata.

However, after talking for so long, the focus of the Jade Emperor and Chu Hao was on whether Guanyin and the others should have been released and the issue of the Buddha's IOU.

They didn't get to the main point at all. The two were singing in harmony, seemingly happy, but the Buddha Tathagata was somewhat embarrassed.

"Chu Hao, aren't we here to ask the Jade Emperor to uphold justice? Why are you being so verbose when a conclusion can be reached in a few words?" Tathagata said to Chu Hao, fearing that Chu Hao and the Jade Emperor would continue like this and not get to the point for a day or two.

"Buddha, don't be anxious. Since we're asking the Jade Emperor to uphold justice, we must explain the matter clearly to the Jade Emperor," Chu Hao replied to the Buddha Tathagata.

"The Underworld God is right. You must explain the entire matter to Us in detail so that We can make the correct judgment. Otherwise, wouldn't We ruin Our own reputation if We judged wrongly?" The Jade Emperor said unhurriedly, adopting a leisurely posture.

"Alright," Tathagata was already helpless. If the Jade Emperor didn't make a judgment, Chu Hao would pester him, preventing him from escaping.

"I'll continue. I released Guanyin and the others after handling all the issues according to the Buddha's wishes…" Chu Hao continued to explain the situation to the Jade Emperor in detail.

However, Chu Hao's explanation was indeed detailed, focusing on every minute detail. He had been talking for two or three hours, but had only covered less than a third of the story.

The Jade Emperor pretended to listen attentively, but only he knew whether he was actually listening.

Only the Buddha Tathagata was feeling uneasy, and he couldn't bear this boredom any longer.

"The Ancient Buddha Dipamkara, with all the combat power of the Western Paradise, should be able to handle the Demon Clan," Tathagata thought, believing that there shouldn't be any problems since the Western Paradise was stronger than the Demon Clan.

But the actual situation was not like that. Although Dipamkara's strength was extraordinary, he couldn't reverse the Western Paradise's decline.

"Retreat! Retreat back to the Western Paradise!" After the defensive formation could no longer withstand the Demon Clan's offensive, Dipamkara had no choice but to order the Western Paradise's forces to retreat immediately, which was essentially fleeing.

And the direction they were fleeing was naturally their home base, Mount Ling, in the Western Paradise. But this was undoubtedly a very misguided decision.

Because all the strength of the Western Paradise was here, what could they do even if they fled back to their lair?